Carrying new Arctic Cat colors for 2017, Schatz captured victory in five of eight overall feature events to take the top STIDA ranking by a substantial early margin of 72 points over David Gravel. Schatz has finished atop the STIDA Winged 410 Power Ranking over each of the past four years.

Schatz kicked off the 2017 campaign by winning two of three All Star events at Ocala’s Bubba Raceway Park then split the All Star portion of Volusia Speedway Park’s DIRTcar Nationals last week with Gravel. After Jason Johnson won last Friday night’s World of Outlaws opener at Volusia, Schatz bounced back by winning both feature events on Sunday.

Finishing outside the top ten just once thus far in eight events, Schatz is 72 points ahead of Gravel, who collected the Big Gator at the DIRTcar Nationals. Schatz also escaped Florida atop both All Star and WoO points.

While Schatz and Gravel lead the way exiting Florida, reigning All Star champ Chad Kemenah is third in the early STIDA Winged 410 Power Rankings with Ocala All Star winner Kerry Madsen and Tim Shaffer rounding out the current top five.

The balance of the early top ten includes Brad Sweet, Daryn Pittman, Jason Johnson, Ian Madsen and Christopher Bell.

While the World of Outlaws are idle this coming weekend, Posse action is slated to fire off at Lincoln Speedway on Saturday with March 3-4 action including the World of Outlaws at Lonestar Speedway and the Gator Motorplex in Texas, a double at Chico’s Silver Dollar Speedway that includes the KWS opener and another round of action at Lincoln Speedway.

The current top 25 in STIDA Winged 410 Power Rankings…

Rank

Name

Hometown

Wins

Points

2016 Rank

1

Donny Schatz

Fargo, ND

5

181

2

David Gravel

Watertown, CT

1

109

3

Chad Kemenah

Alvada, OH

0

91

4

Kerry Madsen

St. Marys, NSW

1

80

5

Tim Shaffer

Aliquippa, PA

0

74

6

Brad Sweet

Grass Valley, CA

0

64

7

Daryn Pittman

Owasso, OK

0

60

8

Jason Johnson

Eunice, LA

1

55

9

Ian Madsen

Sydney, NSW

0

48

10

Christopher Bell

Norman, OK

0

45

11

Kraig Kinser

Bloomington, IN

0

41

12

Joey Saldana

Brownsburg, IN

0

38

13

Caleb Armstrong

New Castle, IN

0

35

14

Brian Brown

Grain Valley, MO

0

35

15

Paul McMahan

Elk Grove, CA

0

34

16

Greg Hodnett

Thomasville, PA

0

31

17

Rico Abreu

St. Helena, CA

0

29

18

Lucas Wolfe

Mechanicsburg, PA

0

28

19

Kyle Larson

Elk Grove, CA

0

21

20

Shane Stewart

Bixby, OK

0

21

21

Danny Dietrich

Gettysburg, PA

0

19

22

Logan Schuchart

Hanover, PA

0

18

23

Aaron Reutzel

Clute, TX

0

16

24

Cole Duncan

Lockbourne, OH

0

15

25

Dale Blaney

Hartford, OH

0

14

Features Completed: 8

Number of Different Winners: 4

Number of Drivers to Earn Points: 34

Formed in 1998, STIDA (Short Track Independent Drivers and Associates) is an international company serving the safety and insurance needs of drivers competing in any country. Get covered now by calling 1-800-378-4608 or get more information by checking online at www.stida.com.

A part of the recurring “The Wheatley Chronicles” series of articles on www.sprintcarmania.com, the Open Wheel Power Rankings are determined by cumulative points based on a sliding scale dependent upon car count at Sprint Car and Midget events across all sanctions and non-sanctions throughout North America.

The Open Wheel Power Rankings also include Non-Wing 410 Power Rankings, the Rod End Supply Winged 360 Power Rankings, the Beaver Stripes Non-Wing 360 Power Rankings released next week, the www.midgetmadness.com Midget Power Rankings and 305 Power Rankings presented by Dodge City Raceway Park.

The Wheatley Chronicles brings insight and highlights from all variety of racing series throughout the nation in 2017 and beyond along with the Open Wheel Power Rankings on a regular basis. Please send any comments, questions or advertising inquiries regarding The Wheatley Chronicles at www.sprintcarmania.com to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.